Deve Gowda extends support to mining dependents in Goa

JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Thursday extended his support to mining dependents from Goa who are protesting in New Delhi and said if necessary, he will try to take up their issues in Parliament and also with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Deve Gowda met protesters at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi where the Goa Mining People's Front (GMPF), an umbrella organisation of mining dependents, presented him a memorandum of their demands.

Mining, which used to be one of the two major sources of revenue in Goa, the other being tourism, came to a halt in March this year after the Supreme Court quashed renewal of 88 mining leases.

Around a thousand people under the banner of GMPF have been protesting in Delhi since Tuesday, demanding an amendment to the mining law during the ongoing winter session of Parliament to enable resumption of mining activity.

Deve Gowda assured the protesters that he will go through the memorandum.

"If necessary, I will take up the issue in Parliament in the form of a Calling Attention motion or a special discussion, I will try to do my best. I hope the government will respond to your demand," he said.

"I hope that other friends also co-operate with me in Parliament. Injustice has been meted out to you people, and it must be corrected by the state and the central governments and for your cause I will take up the issue and do my best," the JD(S) chief assured.

"I will have to see that this type of issue is taken up in Parliament. If I am not able to do it in the current session, then I am going to meet the prime minister," he said.